Stolen by Nazis, art with Houston ties returned to family

1of 2"Madonna and Child" was stolen 70 years ago from the family of Houston's Nick Florescu.

2of 2France's culture minister, Aurelie Filipetti, presides at a ceremony in the Culture Ministry in Paris to return three paintings taken from their owners in World War II.Photo: Michel Euler, STF

The Nazis stole the 14th-century painting from his Romanian relatives 70 years ago. Houston's Nick Florescu got it back Tuesday morning in a ceremony at the Louvre, where French authorities also returned two other looted masterpieces to the descendants of their rightful owners.

"I mean think about all these years," he told the Associated Press. "It was not even in the cards, but the French government was very helpful in finding this and we owe a great gratitude to them."

In a phone interview, Florescu's brother, Radu Florescu, who lives in the Boston area, said that his family has been trying for more than a decade to retrieve artwork stolen from them by the Nazis. One of their cousins, artist Ileana Florescu, began the search, he said.

According to Radu Florescu, his paternal grandfather (who like him and his father was named Radu) had served in the Romanian "legation" - an ambassador - to England, but was recalled to Bucharest in 1941. The elder Florescu, who had been posted in Berlin before being sent to England, refused.

"He had an inkling about what the Nazis were all about," Radu Florescu said. "That's when they seized all the goods of the family."

The Nazis looted a family home on the French Riviera in Cannes.

The Nazis stole the painting, bought by the brothers' great-grandfather, Richard Soepkez, a Romanian banker of Hungarian origin who collected religious art, according to Radu Florescu.

'Real Monuments Men'

The piece was one of three paintings returned Tuesday to members of families whose art had been stolen during the Nazi occupation of France. French Minister of Culture Aurelie Filippetti told reporters that the return of the paintings was a gesture toward justice, according to the Associated Press.

The two other paintings returned were "Portrait of a Woman," painted on canvas by an unidentified artist in the 18th century, and "Mountain Landscape" by Joos de Momper, a Flemish artist who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The pieces are among the thousands stolen by the Nazis during World War II.

"It's a real-life 'Monuments Men' story," Sachse said.

Sachse said her husband and his relatives had known about the presentation for some time.

Still, "the family was absolutely beside themselves, what a surprise ... It's not a call you expect to receive everyday," Sachse said in a phone interview.

Nick Florescu almost didn't make it to the presentation, she said.

On Sunday, he had been planning to fly to England to meet his cousin Ion Florescu, who has advocated for the return of the family's artwork. The two were then scheduled to take a train from England to France, she said.

But the flight he was scheduled to take to Europe was delayed, she said, and the Houston businessman ended up arriving at his hotel at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, two hours before the presentation.

Her husband "had just enough time to shower, change, and get over to the Louvre," Sachse said.

The Florescu family came to the U.S. fleeing communist rule in Romania. Influential U.S. politicians, including Texas Rep. Sam Rayburn, and the Kennedy family, helped the stateless family obtain U.S. passports and citizenship, the younger Radu Florescu said.

His father, now 89, settled in the Boston area, where he raised his sons, Nick, John and Radu, and his daughter, Alexandra.

The elder Florescu became a professor at Boston College, while his children spread back across the globe. After the fall of communist dictators in Romania in 1989, some of the family returned there. The former professor now lives in southern France.

Son informs his father

Nick, now 62, moved to Texas for a shipping job but soon began working in energy, Sachse said. Eventually, he started Centrade USA, the Houston-based media, advertising, and online marketing umbrella company. He married Sachse in 2012.

His brothers still work for the company.

Their father was not able to go to the ceremony because he is ill, Sachse said. After the presentation, her husband traveled to Antibes to tell him about the event.

"It was very special for him to have a family member there," she said, speaking of her father-in-law.

The painting is still at the Louvre while the family decides what to do with it.

Sachse said family members had been speaking to Sotheby's about potentially auctioning the piece. The family is also considering keeping it at the Prague Castle, owned by William Lobkowicz, a Czech-American who is married to Nick's sister, who goes by Sandra.

"They're figuring it out," Sachse said. "But it certainly won't be hanging in any one's living room."

St. John Barned-Smith joined the Houston Chronicle in 2014 and covers public safety and major disasters, including floods, bombings and mass shootings. Barned-Smith came to the Chronicle after a stint in the Peace Corps and after reporting in Philadelphia and suburban Maryland. Follow him on Twitter or email tips to st.john.smith@chron.com.